LeBron James, 'Cosby Show' producer developing sitcom for Starz

LeBron James spins a ball during a basketball clinic at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila.

LeBron James spins a ball during a basketball clinic at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila. (Noel CelisS / AFP/Getty Images)

Meredith Blake

Not content with two straight NBA championships. LeBron James is spreading his very expansive wings into the world of television.

The Miami Heat forward is teaming up with writer/actor Mike O'Malley, business partner Maverick Carter and Tom Werner, the veteran producer of classic comedies "Roseanne" and "The Cosby Show," to develop a sitcom for the premium cable channel Starz.

"Survivor's Remorse" is to follow two successful young men from a tough Philadelphia neighborhood struggling to bridge the gap between their upbringing and their current lives. Though one of the main characters will be an NBA star, James will not star in the half-hour series.

"When you make it out, everyone expects for -- they automatically think that they made it out, and it's very tough for a young African American 18-year-old kid to now hold the responsibility of a whole city, of a whole community. I can relate to that as well," James, who was raised by a single teen mother in Akron, Ohio, told the Associated Press.

The sitcom represents a departure for Starz, a network known primarily for titillating period dramas, including "Spartacus" and, more recently, "The White Queen."